The real unemployment rate? It sure isn't 8.3% — Even if it were a legit number, the 8.3% February unemployment rate, released today by the Labor Department, would be simply terrible - and unacceptable. It would still extend the longest streak of 8%-plus unemployment since the Great Depression.

U.S. Economy Gains Another 227,000 Jobs — In yet another sign of a strengthening recovery, the United States added 227,000 net jobs in February, the third consecutive month of gains over 200,000. The unemployment rate was unchanged from 8.3 percent in January, the Labor Department reported Friday …

The employment recovery is real — I can't remember the last time there was this much excitement and anticipation surrounding a payrolls number — and it's another solid report. There were 227,000 new jobs created in March, and the already-excellent numbers from the previous two months …

Reaching Critical Mass — In one of the funnier, or scarier, videos I have seen recently, Breitbart.com's Editor-In-Chief Joel Pollak acquits himself well in a heated discussion with Soledad O'Brien of CNN about critical race theory. A major point of contention revolved around the description of CRT:

The Race-Baiting Continues — I've been holding off on writing something about the bizarre spectacle of the Derrick Bell “exposé” that has consumed the nuttier corners of the right in the last couple of days, simply because it's so weird and pathetic that I wasn't sure exactly how to talk about it beyond simple ridicule.

New Republic Gets an Owner Steeped in New Media — The newest owner of The New Republic magazine is Chris Hughes, a new-media guru who co-founded Facebook and helped to run the online organizing machine for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. — Mr. Hughes's purchase of a majority stake …

Ignorance Is Strength — One way in which Americans have always been exceptional has been in our support for education. First we took the lead in universal primary education; then the “high school movement” made us the first nation to embrace widespread secondary education.

The Unchained Woman — What used to be a normal family life is now available only to the affluent. — Susanna Mancini, a 27-year-old lawyer, sent her boyfriend a photo of herself wearing a swimsuit and sunglasses. “Too bad you can't see my eyes,” she wrote him. “I am so proud of my tough yuppie stare!”

An American Auto Bailout for France? — Attention U.S. taxpayers: You now own a piece of a French car company that is drowning in red ink. — That's right. In a move little noticed outside of the business pages, General Motors last week bought more than $400 million in shares of PSA Peugeot Citroen …

White House Works to Shape Debate Over Health Law — WASHINGTON — The White House has begun an aggressive campaign to use approaching Supreme Court arguments on the new health care law as a moment to build support for the measure seen as President Obama's signature legislative achievement …

About Virginia Postrel — Virginia Postrel writes about commerce and culture, innovation, economics and public policy. Shes the author of “The Future and Its Enemies” and “The Substance of Style,” and is writing a book on glamour. — Fight Birth-Control Battle Over the Counter: Virginia Postrel

Breakfast Is Ready — Who says Mitt Romney can't appeal to southern voters. — The man likes grits, and he'll tell you so. — Video below the jump. — Paul Werdel — Paul Werdel is an Associate Editor at TPM. Before joining TPM he was a News Editor with Al Jazeera English, and before that a Producer with BBC News.

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